1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates broadly to ladders to be attached to the transoms of boats in assist persons using the boats to board the boat from a position immersed in the water beside the boat or to safely debark from the boat even when loaded with scuba equipment or other gear. More particularly, it concerns boat ladders that provide a working platform attached to the stem of a boat and foldable step sections that provide easy and safe access from or to the platform into or out of the water surrounding the boat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of platform and ladder devices have been developed and marketed for attachment to the transoms of boats to assist in boarding or debarking the boats or to help in moving or working about the stern of the boats. These prior devices can be divided broadly into three classes, i.e., (1) those that are strictly ladders and provide no real platform function, (2) those that are strictly platforms and (3) those that provide combination ladder and platform functions. The present invention relates the devices of the third type.
In the devices of the third type in the prior art there is typically a platform that attaches to the boat transom plus some form of depending step arrangement that assist the user of the device to lower or raise his body upon one or more steps positioned at a level below the platform. In some forms of such devices, the depending step or steps are fixed immoveably to the platform while in others the step or steps are hinged or otherwise arranged to move between a lowered, use position and a raised, storage position. The present invention concerns boat ladder devices of the moveable step type.
The prior art devices of the type to which the present invention relates as stated above have a number of undesirable aspects. Firstly, many of them are fixed to the boat transom by braces that extend downward from the boat transom and outward at both sides to the outside end of the platform section. Hence, these braces create a fence or obstruction at the sides of the platform that seriously limits the effective, useable area of the platform. For example, a person positioned on such a platform wearing scuba gear can not swing the gear over the side of the platform, but must move it fore and aft within the confines of the side braces.
Secondly, many such type prior art devices use brackets to mount the step section that are fixed upon the uppr surface of the platform. Such upwardly extending items can snag clothing or gear carried by the user of the device as the user is seated on the platform or moves about it.
Thirdly, many such type prior art devices have the moveable step section mounted to the platform section in a manner that the step section is not sturdily fixed when in the lowered, use position with the result that the user is bothered by having to lift his body on an unsteady step. This is particularly bothersome when the user is carrying heavy gear, e.g., scuba gear, since the added weight serves to aggravate the unstable conditions.